“We were playing for a lot more than Spurs and I think it showed”

“That’s no disrespect to Spurs because they are a wonderful side who are going places, but we might be going those same places with them and it looks as though we can.”

Chris Mort was also eager to praise the team and Keegan’s efforts through a rather rough patch from mid January onwards:-

“The results haven’t really come. The football went a bit awry, but Kevin’s got them playing again, and we saw that.”

Some have observed how Michael Owen had practically played as a midfielder in recent matches. Whatever the strategy it has worked so far and it seems many defenders are caught off guard by Owen running in from deep to pick up balls from Viduka and Martins. Owen said:

“Currently we’re playing a certain way which the gaffer has decided and I’ve enjoyed it,” he said.

“Everyone knows I’m a striker who scores goals, but I’ve enjoyed coming off and I’m still getting into the box and scoring those goals – it’s three in three with the new system.

“It’s good to have a link-up and, especially away from home when you’re under the cosh, it’s nice for the lads at the back and in midfield to have an outlet and that’s my role at the moment.”

It seems that many of Sam Allardyce’s purchases during the summer are now paying off. I can pick out Geremi, Enrique, Viduka and recently Barton giving the kind of performances we expect from players in a black n’ white shirt. Another such good purchase has been Habib Beye, who came to us at around £2m. On Saturday we saw a top Beye effort which smacked the cross bar early on in the game. The defender said in the Evening Chronicle today:

“Now we have a lot of confidence from this as well as the points.” “It’s good for everybody because they worked hard for it.”

“We’ve worked in training because everybody wants this club in the Premier League next season.” “At Spurs we showed it with a massive three points.”

Finally, Emre who has until recently been out with an injury scored a crucial goal to level a reserves match against Manchester United tonight. The likes of Carroll, Ramage, Edgar and Ngo Baheng also featured but it was the veteran midfielder who put the ball in the back of the net. Let’s hope we once again see the best of Emre in Keegan’s squad in the near future.